#syd contract extension

[katelynnwrites]

does it ever drive you crazy, just how fast the night changes?

[ciaomarie]

Part 5: What Then?

It's finally Sydney's one year work anniversary! A little slice of fluff to tide us over. Quick summary of the last 4 parts- Its been about 5-6 months since The Bear opened, the slowburn is slowburning,, and Carmy wants to make Syd an shareholder. Please excuse grammar/spelling. My contacts are fizzling out.

Sydney woke up with cheerful expectation before her alarm rang. Today was her work anniversary or “workversary”. A year ago, she strode into The Beef praying that this was her chance to make something great with one of the best chefs in the industry. Then in a couple short months The Beef had closed, the process of The Bear began, and since it’s opening her hopes of creating lifelong memories for people and of obtaining a star seemed possible. The dream was becoming more concrete every day.

She got ready eagerly and grabbed the garment bag with her freshly dry-cleaned custom chef’s coat. More than just the significance of the day, Syd felt like something special was going to happen. Carmy had brought up this anniversary almost every day for the past week. Obviously, he was hiding something, and she was ravenous to know what it was. She tried every truth extraction tactic she could think of, from feigning nonchalance to making him a gourmet peanut butter and jelly sandwich, to shameless pouting. The last almost worked, but Richie walked by interrupting her performance. Carm snapped out of her spell and from that moment refused to hint about today. Richie teased her ever since and even last night he left a voice note impersonating her honeyed murmur “Carmy, pleasssseee tell me…I’d wouldn’t hide anything from you” followed by retching noises.

Oh, well. She liked good surprises.  

The morning was uneventful, but during staff lunch Carmy announced that it was Sydney’s work anniversary and Marcus brought out a sublime vertical carrot cake for everyone. He even made an additional small cake for her to take home and share with her father. It was so divine that if the cake was all she got, she would have been thankful, and she told him as much.

“Marcus, you are incredible! If you ever need a kidney, just make me this,” she moaned.

“I’ll remember that chef” he answered scratching his neck and bashfully ducking back into the kitchen. His crush on her was mostly snuffed out the night of Friends and Family, but occasionally those old feelings resurfaced.

As Sydney reached the peak of a blissful sugar high Carm asked her to join him in Natalie’s office. First a cake and now the mystery reveal!

They asked her to take the seat of honor, aka the comfortable chair, behind the desk. Nat looked pleased and relaxed, while Carmy was harder to read. His expression was a mixture of agitation and gladness as he drummed his fingers on his knee. For a moment they sat in silence.

“What is it?” Sydney blurted.

“Carm, tell her!” Natalie ordered with an exasperated smile.  

Taking a deep breath Carmen gushed forth,

“Sydney, I don’t even know where I’d be, where The Bear would be, without you. You put in a crap ton of hours without pay during the reno, you kill it in the kitchen every day, we created the menu together, the staff respects you, you kept everything running when I was sick and…and…we want to give you a share in the restaurant.”

Sydney slumped back in the chair, speechless and gazed at them her pupils dilated like saucers.

Natalie went on to explain further, handing her a contract.

“If you accept, your share would be equivalent to Carm and I. Of ‘course none of us will see additional income until we pay back Uncle Cicero, but we didn’t want to wait to make it clear that you are essential to The Bear, to our family.”

Carmy held his breath. He had been elated about this for days, but now he doubted. Yes, Sydney wanted a star, and she loved the work, but would she want to be tied to The Bear, and by extension to him?

Sydney sat up, clutching the contract, and shook her head in amazement.

“You’re serious? A share? An equal share?”

“Yeah, of ‘course” Carmy replied, his ocean tinted eyes imploring her to believe it.

“Okay” she conceded softly, her vision blurred with tears, and she stood up to embrace her now legal partners.

Natalie swooped in first with one of her famous hugs and whispered, “Thank you.”

Then Carm overwhelmed with relief pulled her close, his lips slightly brushing her cheek.

Just then someone tapped on the door and Natalie opened it. It was Uncle Cicero eating a slice of Marcus’s cake.

“Hey, Uncle Cicero, to what do we owe this pleasure?” Natalie enquired.

“Well, my lawyer said he sent the contract over this morning, so I just wanted to officially welcome our new partner to the business and to the family! Sydney you’re a class act and this one couldn’t have picked better,” Uncle Cicero answered with a wink at Carmy. Then he beckoned for Syd to give him a hug, which she did her face hot with a mixture of happiness and self-consciousness. She felt like she was an honorary Berzatto.

“Well, I got to head out. We’ll talk again soon Sydney,” Cicero said warmly and beckoned Carm to follow him.

As they walked through the restaurant and out to his car, Cicero praised his nephew for making The Bear a success so far, raved about the cake and most importantly for making their monthly installments. Then he said something very strange.

“Carmen, you’re doing this right with that girl. Wise to get the business side squared away first. Oh, and I got a ring guy, he could get you a good deal.”

Carmy was jolted from the hazy cloud of contentment that enveloped him since Sydney accepted the offer.

“Why would I need a ring guy?”

“Hey, I know young people do things differently these days. Some wait for years, but when you’re ready to get engaged I got a connect.” Cicero explained.

 “Well, uh, Sydney and I aren’t dating,” Carmy responded with a shade of longing in his voice.

“You broke up!?”

“We’ve never dated.”

“Then who were you seeing right before the restaurant opened?”

“Claire.”

“Who’s Claire?”

“She was from our old neighborhood; It didn’t work out. I was Alex Gonzalez during a lot of the reno. Why did you think I was dating Sydney?”

Cicero cocked his head, scrutinizing Carm with the intensity of an owl. That look would make Mike Tyson falter.

“Why do you think I thought you two were dating?”

Carmy blushed with a crooked smile, rubbing his chin.

Cicero sighed, got into his car, and rolled down the window.

“Don’t overthink it nephew. I could’ve been married to the love of my life if I wasn’t such a know-it-all manichino (dummy) in my youth.”

Carmy blinked, confused.

“But you are married.”

“Yeah, and she’s great. Not the love of my life though.”

With those words Cicero waved and took off.

Carmy stood for a minute to clear his mind before heading back inside. He knew Sydney was probably recovered from shock and waiting for him with dozens of questions about their new arrangement.

Also, would another hug be out of order?

[liacobain]

So, looking at the team cap and contracts for 2025:

Signed for 2025 season

Gray (signed an extension), Young (signed an extension), Wilson, Gustafson, Kate, Bell (exercised team option of rookie contract), Stokes

for now, KP and AC will be UFA’s after the 2024 season, so, as it looks right now, since they haven’t signed an extension with LV, they will be UFAs. If they don’t sign an extension by the deadline, obviously they won’t be protected for the expansion draft. I think AC could possibly retire after this season, Syd might too, so idk. You don’t have your rookie shadow a vet to learn from to be AC 2.0 unless that vet is retiring.

Last expansion draft, the teams were only allowed to protect 6 players. The CBA doesn’t have a restriction on how many players the teams can protect, but the W can assign a number to that, so the league can either say “protect as many players as you want,” or say “you can only protect 2 (or 4-6).” No one will know how the draft will go until towards the end of the season before the expansion draft starts in December.

i forgot abt syd lol. thinking of them retiring makes me so sad bro 😭 but yes i agree with everything said here. im really interested to see if KP will get that extension bc i feel like she wouldn’t leave the aces but idk

[batllethinker]

https://www.instagram.com/p/C4liU80LtZS/?igsh=Mm50dG9oN3d1ZzI0

The twins together after Syd announced her contract extension

Cuties

[beckysauerbrunn]

If Syd asks to be traded to LA because now Don’s not even playing in the country I will be sick! She’s not asking to go to SD with Jill in charge.

bro dom and syd broke up months ago and she signed a 3 year contract extension with the pride where have you been

[stillinmyroom]

Daniel Caesar takes a page out of Frank Ocean’s book for his sophomore studio album

In 2017 there was an abundance of amazing, new R&B albums. SZA dropped her popular album Ctrl, Khalid had his debut with American Teen, and many more artists such as Syd and Brent Faiyaz also delivered solid projects. However, out of all the R&B artists that released projects in 2017, Daniel Caesar was the only one to hit icon status. His debut studio album, Freudian, was an almost flawless collection of silky smooth R&B ballads that flowed beautifully from front to to back. While most of the songs on Freudian consisted of Daniel utilizing his unbelievable range to discuss topics of love, there were also philosophical themes throughout the album such as the struggles between the id and ego, and the title obviously references Sigmund Freud. The album was instantly deemed a classic by many critics, and when Daniel went on tour most of his shows quickly sold out, exhibiting the dedicated fanbase he had now obtained. 

Before Freudian, the last R&B/urban contemporary album to have such an impact for a new artist was Channel Orange, created by none other than the legendary Frank Ocean. While Frank Ocean’s rise to fame was pretty different, as he gained cult-like fans through his time in Odd Future, his solo debut album officially gave him the status of icon. Releasing a critically acclaimed debut album can be a very difficult situation for an artist though, because fans then expect every following project to be at the same quality or better. The pressure for these artists to live up to the reputation of their first album, has led to many second projects failing to be as well-received, and this effect became known as the “sophomore slump.” So what did Frank Ocean do after releasing an album that was instantly recognized as one of the best R&B/urban contemporary releases ever? Well, just like the avatar when the world needed him most...he vanished. Frank went silent for four entire years after the Channel Orange phase, not releasing any songs of his own and only making a handful of guest appearances. Yet, because of the icon status he had reached and his cult fanbase, he didn’t lose any of his hype; in fact, his mysterious disappearance only led to his next project gaining more buildup than almost any album released in the past decade. When Frank finally decided to break the silence, he delivered two incredible albums, Endless and Blonde. Now I’m sure most of you are aware of Frank’s epic comeback, but just in case, I’ll give a brief summary. Endless was a visual album that Frank released on a live stream while building a staircase, and although it was a very raw project with a unique minimalist sound, it never saw an official release with a split tracklist and the usual album formatting. Blonde on the other hand, sounded practically nothing like Channel Orange, but became one of the most experimental albums of modern music, and many believed it even surpassed the high expectations created by Frank’s previous album and a four year hiatus. Now how did Frank Ocean successfully handle the pressure of living up to his freshman project? He did exactly the opposite of what the music industry tells artists to do. He disappeared for four years, created an avant-garde classic with a genre-defying sound, created a second album on a livestream to escape his contract, and used practically no promotion at all because his fanbase had created all the hype he needed. And while all this was happening, Daniel Caesar was taking notes.

Besides his song “Who Hurt You?” and a couple of features here and there, Daniel Caesar was very quiet in the time after the Freudian phase. Now this shouldn’t be unusual for an artist that needs time to plan and perfect his work, but in the current state of music where artists are releasing multiple projects a year and posting on social media multiple times per day, fans can get impatient when an artist decides to stray away from these industry norms. People began to wonder what Daniel Caesar had in store, as he occasionally posted or live streamed on Instagram, but other than the rare social media display, Daniel continued to remain silent (except for an appearance with Dave Chappelle on John Mayer’s show and some remarks about YesJulz). Then, on June 26th, Daniel Caesar suddenly took to Instagram to announce his sophomore album, CASE STUDY 01, that was set to release on June 28th. Much like Frank Ocean, Daniel did not need the promotion tactics of a normal artist due to his loyal fanbase and the extensive amount of hype he still retained from Freudian. Fans had been waiting in anticipation to find out if Daniel Caesar would attempt to make another silky R&B album filled with smooth ballads, but as they would soon find out, Daniel decided to go a different direction. It became pretty clear that Daniel had payed attention to artists like Frank Ocean, who had immense expectations to live up to following the release of a classic. Daniel designed a more experimental, yet also minimalist sound on his sophomore album by combing aspects of R&B, bedroom pop, and alternative rock, mixed with  psychedelic, lofi production. Songs such as “TOO DEEP TO TURN BACK,” “SUPERPOSITION,” and “ARE YOU OK?” use hypnotic guitar melodies as Daniel channels his inner poet. The track RESTORE THE FEELING, almost feels like something out of a psychological horror movie with the eerie lofi guitar beat and the high pitch vocals of Sean Leon, Jacob Collier, and Daniel. Furthermore, Daniel utilizes his voice in a more unique way throughout the entire project. He uses voice inflections in OPEN UP to place the listener in a trance and even incorporates some dancehall influence and autotune into songs like CYANIDE. However, the most important aspect of what makes CASE STUDY 01 sound more distinct than Freudian may be the themes and subjects of the music. While Daniel still discusses topics such as love and loneliness, there is a lot more focus on ideas such as life, death, and spirituality on this album. There are also various mentions of Daniel using psychedelic drugs such as LSD, which may have influenced the deeper and more profound themes. Much like CASE STUDY 01, Blonde also contains many deeper themes such as spirituality and the purpose of life, and Frank mentions the use of psychedelics throughout the album as well. Every single song on Blonde has a sound that is very distinct and separate from those on Channel Orange, and the same can be said about the songs of CASE STUDY 01 and Freudian (except for possibly the Brandy accompanied track, “LOVE AGAIN”). Ultimately, Daniel Caesar successfully defeated the sophomore slump pressure and ended up creating a project with a more experimental and original sound than his critically acclaimed debut. While many people may still prefer the classic serene R&B vibes of Freudian, I think Daniel ended up delivering a more creative and enticing sound in his sophomore project. And just as I prefer Blonde over Channel Orange, I also believe that CASE STUDY 01 is a better overall album than Freudian because of the artistic risks that Daniel wasn’t afraid to take.

[mamazano]

A fun (or funny translation, thanks Google) article from a German paper on Rick’s death. (Link to the original article at the end for any German speaking readers.) Enjoy!

17th May 2010, 9:48 pm To the death of Richard Wright The soul of the monster Goodbye, Mr. Chance: The death of frighteningly likable keyboarder Richard Wright on Monday broke the heart of Pink Floyd.

By Alexander Gorkow That a band is only as big as the sum of its components, can also be expressed rude. After leaving the monster Pink Floyd in 1984 and wondering about half-empty halls on his first solo tour, Roger Waters told him, "You think you're the monster you created, Roger, but the monster is now larger than you."

The soul of the monster: Pink Floyd keyboarder Richard Wright was above all very British. (Photo: Photo: AP)

The dinosaur Pink Floyd - whom you will never see and hear on a stage since the death of keyboardist Richard Wright on Monday in London - was above all: very British in his elegant rage and sneer. Wright's penchant for jazz and the great classical composers continued to enrich the band's extensive blues rock with delicate and somehow Victorian-looking colors. It was Wright's harmonies on the Hammond organ, the mini-moog, later on the digital Kurzweil synthesizer and, most beautifully, on the grand piano, the genetic code of Pink Floyd's music, and maybe that gorgeous monster-in-itself accounted for.

Such an alluring mix of violence, humility and sarcasm has not gotten the epigones off the hook, Radiohead appears to be whiny, Coldplay far too stupid, many too aimless. Rumors that the band will in the original cast of the post-Syd-Barrett phase actually give some concerts for eternity, therefore recently made for a certain super excitement in the starving music industry. It's ironically ironic that the question of how Roger Waters and David Gilmour get along with each other since Monday - because now the class stalemate has just taken off.

Like a world-weary professor of literature Nowadays songs are mostly written by Linda Perry, produced by Timbaland and then burped on computers like horror stations like Bayern 3. It is no longer easy to see that it was the sum of a group of band members who outdid themselves with great patience before imploding into hubris.

Similar to the Beatles, Pink Floyd had a congenial team split: the nervous Waters loaded music and lyrics with the aggressive self-pity that great songs need; second singer and guitarist David Gilmour provided sexual tension with a warm voice and crashing Fender runs; drummer and humorist Nick Mason's secondary occupation included everyday sounds in the head cinema, fighter jets, cash registers, not least the heartbeat that initiates an indestructible epic of younger existentialism, such as the bitter-comic "Dark Side Of The Moon". Richard Wright, a man of almost explosive shyness, he was what George Harrison was to the Beatles: not head, not hip - but the soul of this monster, a downright frighteningly likable man of fragile build, still a keyboarder on the last Gilmour's solo tour in 2006, was as ethereally in the dressing room as a professor of literature who had erred in the house number.

If you talked to him, you initially had the impression that he is only there to take a look at everything backstage. Nevertheless, Wright always surrounded the world of a Peter Sellers, and not least in his last years he reminded of the tragicomic Mr.Chance from Sellers' last film, who believes in the street outside, he could fend off attackers with the TV remote control.

Sometimes megalomaniac Wright also needed humor to survive (albeit mentally injured) in the massacre committed by the alpha animals Waters and Gilmour: he once gave the songs to the secret ballot among the band members for the song selection of a best-of record The other band members each zero points, but his own ten, a rebellious and funny trick, but the auffllog! Like Roger Waters and Nick Mason, Wright first studied architecture at London's Regent Street Polytechnic in the early 1960s, which sounds like Pink Floyd's spatial, sometimes megalomaniacal music. When Waters borrowed a cigarette from Wright in the spring of 1963 and damaged the pack, there was a dispute for the first time - according to Mason the big bang for countless communication problems that kept up to the recent past, the most backward London lawyers on the go.

No one suffered as badly as Wright, who was kicked out of Waters after the 1980 "The Wall" record for indecent behavior and given a stinking rental music contract. In songs like "Wearing the Inside Out," Wright later went into severe depression, and since he was too defensive to sell CDs, Gilmour's power plug took on his friend. On their last and most successful tour, the two played a sparkling version of underwater performer "Echoes". No one will be able to do this any more than the night of July 2, 2005 in London, when Waters and Gilmour decided to end a truce for four songs at the Live 8 concert after 25 years of strife. For the last time, the heartbeat of the Dark Side thundered over half a million heads in Hyde Park, and even graying punks were crying like babies. The heart of Pink Floyd stopped beating on Monday. The last word on the main record in 1972 was the jolly janitor of the Abbey Road Studios: "There is no dark side of the moon - it is dark everywhere." Richard Wright died of cancer. He was 65 years old.

https://www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/zum-tod-von-richard-wright-die-seele-des-monsters-1.694014

[newstfionline]

Tuesday, November 17, 2020

SpaceX’s ‘Resilience’ Lifts 4 Astronauts Into New Era of Spaceflight (NYT) It’s not yet the same as hopping on commuter flight from New York to Washington or renting a car from Avis, but Sunday’s launch of four astronauts to the International Space Station in a capsule built by SpaceX was a momentous step toward making space travel commonplace and mundane. In the future, instead of relying on spacecraft built by NASA or other governments, NASA astronauts and anyone else with enough money can by a ticket on a commercial rocket. NASA designated Sunday night’s launch as the first operational flight of the Crew Dragon spacecraft built and operated by SpaceX, the rocket company started by Elon Musk. The four astronauts aboard—three from NASA, one from JAXA, the Japanese space agency—left Earth from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. A Crew Dragon took two astronauts—Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley—to the space station in May, but that was a test flight to shake out remaining glitches in the systems.

The Hot New Covid Tech Is Wearable and Constantly Tracks You (NYT) In Rochester, Mich., Oakland University is preparing to hand out wearable devices to students that log skin temperature once a minute—or more than 1,400 times per day—in the hopes of pinpointing early signs of the coronavirus. In Plano, Texas, employees at the headquarters of Rent-A-Center recently started wearing proximity detectors that log their close contacts with one another and can be used to alert them to possible virus exposure. And in Knoxville, students on the University of Tennessee football team tuck proximity trackers under their shoulder pads during games—allowing the team’s medical director to trace which players may have spent more than 15 minutes near a teammate or an opposing player. The powerful new surveillance systems, wearable devices that continuously monitor users, are the latest high-tech gadgets to emerge in the battle to hinder the coronavirus. Some sports leagues, factories and nursing homes have already deployed them. Resorts are rushing to adopt them. A few schools are preparing to try them. And the conference industry is eyeing them as a potential tool to help reopen convention centers. Civil rights and privacy experts warn that the spread of such wearable continuous-monitoring devices could lead to new forms of surveillance that outlast the pandemic—ushering into the real world the same kind of extensive tracking that companies like Facebook and Google have instituted online. They also caution that some wearable sensors could enable employers, colleges or law enforcement agencies to reconstruct people’s locations or social networks, chilling their ability to meet and speak freely.

2 states announce new virus restrictions as US cases hit 11M (AP) Michigan and Washington on Sunday joined several other states in announcing renewed efforts to combat the coronavirus as more than 11 million cases of COVID-19 have now been reported in the United States—with the most recent million coming in less than a week—and as many Americans prepare to observe a Thanksgiving holiday marked by the pandemic. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration ordered high schools and colleges to stop in-person classes, closed restaurants to indoor dining and suspended organized sports—including the football playoffs—in an attempt to curb the state’s spiking case numbers. The order also restricts indoor and outdoor residential gatherings, closes some entertainment facilities and bans gyms from hosting group exercise classes. The directives from Michigan come on the same day that Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced the state would enforce new restrictions on businesses and social gatherings for the next month as it, too, continued to combat a rising number of cases.

After Trump, will the presidency recede a bit for Americans? (AP) Calvin Coolidge, known by some as “Silent Cal” during his time in the White House, used his autobiography to live up to his nickname. “The words of a president,” he wrote in 1929 after leaving office, “have an enormous weight and ought not to be used indiscriminately.” The world is very different now. Communication is instantaneous. Americans—even a president—are often measured by the quantity and volume of what is now called their “content.” Since he took office in 2017 (and for many years before that), Donald Trump has been a different kind of president when it comes to communication—a more-is-better kind of guy. You can adore Trump or despise him. But from late-night tweet storms to oft-repeated untruths to provocative statements about everything from the kneeling of pro football players to canned beans to buying Greenland, there’s one thing it has been almost impossible to do with the president of the United States these past four years: ignore him. “No one can get away from it. It’s never happened before. I’ve always cared about the president, but it’s never been like this,” says Syd Straw, an entertainer and artist who lives in the Vermont woods. “Even people who like him feel that way, I think.” Now, as another administration prepares to take the reins of American power, have the Trump years forever changed the place that the presidency occupies in American life and Americans’ lives? Has Calvin Coolidge’s statement become woefully outdated in the era of the ever-present presidency, or is it an idea whose time has returned, as voiced by a sign on the fence at Lafayette Square near the White House last week: “Enough!”

Hurricane Iota roars onto Nicaragua as 2nd blow in 2 weeks (AP) In a one-two punch, Hurricane Iota roared ashore as a dangerous Category 4 storm along almost exactly the same stretch of Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast that was devastated by an equally powerful Hurricane Eta 13 days earlier. Iota had intensified into an extremely dangerous Category 5 storm during the day Monday, but the U.S. National Hurricane Center said it weakened slightly as it neared the coast late Monday and made landfall with maximum sustained winds of 155 mph (250 kph). It hit the coast about 30 miles (45 kilometers) south of the Nicaraguan city of Puerto Cabezas, also known as Bilwi. Iota came ashore just 15 miles (25 kilometers) south of where Hurricane Eta made landfall Nov. 3, also as a Category 4 storm. Eta’s torrential rains saturated the soil in the region, leaving it prone to new deadly landslides and floods, forecasters warned.

Crisis-hit Peru elects centrist lawmaker as third president in a week (AP) Peru’s Congress on Monday elected legislator Francisco Sagasti as Peru’s interim president in an attempt to defuse a sharp political crisis in the Andean nation after angry protests and the departure of two presidents in the past week. Sagasti, 76, from the centrist Morado Party, won enough votes to head the unicameral Congress, which means he would constitutionally assume the presidency of the country ahead of national elections called for April. The move makes Sagasti Peru’s third president in a week, after interim leader Manuel Merino resigned on Sunday, five days after being sworn in following the ousting of centrist Martin Vizcarra. Sagasti, a former World Bank official and engineer, faces a formidable challenge to bring stability to the world’s no. 2 copper producer, which was already hard hit by COVID-19 and heading for its worst economic contraction in a century.

Brexit Negotiations Are Running Out Of Time (Foreign Policy) The European Union and United Kingdom continue trade talks in Brussels today, following months of stalled debates and stalemate. At this point there have probably been more “pivotal” weeks over the course of Brexit negotiations than there are European Union member states, so what makes this time different? The most important factor is time, and the lack of it. The so-called transition period for Britain and the EU ends on Dec. 31, bringing in a new era of trade relations. The next few days will decide whether that era is relatively smooth or chaotic in the event of a no-deal outcome. Time also weighs on the European parliament, which ultimately has to read the draft deal (after it’s been translated into the bloc’s 24 official languages) and approve it before that end of year deadline.

Northern Ireland and Amazon (Foreign Policy) Amazon may be powerful enough to get away with a light tax bill, but erasing international borders is likely a step too far, despite the inadvertent efforts of the company’s online customer service team. Replying to a frustrated customer in Northern Ireland wishing to watch a rugby match on Amazon’s streaming service, the helpline unwittingly took a side in one of the world’s longest running geopolitical conflicts and told the customer that the reason he couldn’t see the game was because it was only available for viewing in the United Kingdom. Amazon’s response quickly went viral, causing gleeful Irish nationalists to ask the company to help cancel Northern Ireland’s nearly 100-year-old membership in the United Kingdom, as it had been “automatically signed up.”

Mixed messaging in France (Washington Post) The French government is bristling at international criticism of its response to recent Islamist terrorist attacks, accusing foreign leaders and journalists of misrepresenting an attempt to target extremist violence on French soil as a crackdown on Islam. But some French Muslims say the government’s own mixed messaging is to blame. In the wake of the beheading of Samuel Paty, a middle school teacher who had shown his students caricatures of the prophet Muhammad, and the stabbing of three people inside a basilica in Nice, the French government has closed a mosque and is investigating more than 50 Muslim organizations it has accused of fomenting violence. The actions follow a broader initiative unveiled by President Emmanuel Macron in early October to combat “Islamist separatism” and to “reform” the practice of Islam in France, mostly by targeting foreign funding for Muslim community organizations and by creating certificate programs for French-trained imams. But in so doing, Macron called Islam a religion “in crisis all over the world” and said he seeks to create an “Islam of the Enlightenment,” comments that raised eyebrows in the Muslim world. Amid the furor, the government has rejected accusations that it is Islamophobic and voiced exasperation at what it perceives as a smear campaign that amounts to little more than victim-blaming in a time of national mourning.

Cyprus split? (Foreign Policy) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for Cyprus to be split permanently during a visit to the island over the weekend. Erdogan met with the Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar, whom he had backed in recent elections in the northern part of the island. Erdogan added that Tatar would soon visit Azerbaijan, which suggests the country could soon join Turkey as only the second nation in the world to recognize the independence of Northern Cyprus. “Ankara has absolutely no respect for international law, European principles and values, and its obligations towards the EU,” the Cypriot presidency said in a statement reacting to Erdogan’s comments.

New Asian Trade Deal Pushes West to Margins (Foreign Policy) On Sunday, 15 countries in the Asia-Pacific region signed the world’s largest trade agreement, which is expected to accelerate a shift in global trade toward East Asia and away from the West. Negotiations for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), spearheaded by China, began with a slow start in 2012 but gained new urgency as the Trump administration pursued a protectionist trade policy. The United States is not party to the new deal. The RCEP will reduce tariffs over a 20-year period, streamline customs procedures, and replace a number of bilateral trade agreements in the region with one set of rules. The pact establishes the Asia-Pacific as the world’s largest trading bloc, bigger than the European Union or North America, accounting for $26.2 percent of global output—some 30 percent of the global economy. The Peterson Institute for International Economics estimates that by 2030 the deal could increase global GDP by $186 billion, although China, South Korea, and Japan are expected to benefit more than other signatories.

Asia at a crossroads as cases surge (Reuters) Countries across the Asia-Pacific region reported record new coronavirus numbers and fresh outbreaks, with Japan facing mounting pressure to reimpose a state of emergency and South Korea warning it was at a “critical crossroads”. The resurgence of the virus in Asia comes as travel restrictions are gradually being eased in the region. New daily cases in Japan reached a record 1,722 on Saturday, with hot spots in the northern island of Hokkaido and the western prefectures of Hyogo and Osaka. In South Korea, officials reported more than 200 new cases for the third consecutive day.

Bach says Tokyo Olympic “participants” may need vaccinations (AP) Olympic participants and fans arriving for next year’s postponed Tokyo Olympics are likely to face requirements to be vaccinated to protect the Japanese public, IOC President Thomas Bach said Monday after meeting with new Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. “In order to protect the Japanese people and out of respect for the Japanese people, the IOC will undertake great effort so that as many (people) as possible—Olympic participants and visitors will arrive here (with a) vaccine if by then a vaccine is available,” Bach said. “This makes us all very confident that we can have spectators in the Olympics stadium next year and that spectators will enjoy a safe environment.” The Olympics are to open on July 23, 2021.

They Once Ruled Ethiopia. Now They Are Fighting Its Government. (NYT) When it comes to mountain warfare, the people of Tigray—an ancient kingdom in the far north of Ethiopia, spread across jagged peaks and lush farmland—have decades of hard-won experience. Tigrayan fighters led a brutal war through the 1970s and ‘80s against a hated Marxist dictator of Ethiopia, whom they eventually toppled in 1991, becoming national heroes. For most of the next three decades, Tigrayans ruled Ethiopia. But after Abiy Ahmed, a peace-talking young reformer, came to power as prime minister in 2018, he brusquely sidelined Tigray’s leaders. Tensions exploded violently on Nov. 4, as the world was focused on the presidential election in the United States, when Mr. Abiy launched military strikes in Tigray. Now Tigray is once again at war, fighting the federal government. The battle pits the nation’s army and Mr. Abiy, an internationally feted winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, against the ruling party of Tigray, which commands a large force of well-armed and experienced fighters who know their own mountain terrain well. Already the conflict has escalated at alarming speed with intense fighting that has involved airstrikes and artillery barrages, sent thousands of civilians fleeing across borders—some in boats or even swimming—and led to reports of civilian massacres. The rush to war has exacerbated ethnic divisions so badly that on Friday it prompted warnings of potential ethnic cleansing and even genocide.

The Pandemic As A Welcome Lesson In Humility (El Espectador/Colombia) What a drag. It’s so exhausting. I can’t take it any more. These are the kinds of everyday complaints that come with the pandemic, and they’re understandable, because the situation really is an energy drain. And yet, the pandemic also offers some benefits. By pulling the curtain back on some painful inequalities, it may trigger fundamental changes around the world, even if they must happen under duress or fear. Events are forcing us to consider outside realities, but also to look inside ourselves for purpose. We may be wondering what our lives mean. Threats strip our life goals bare like surgery without anesthesia. Without them, life may become painful and depressing, but this may precede a recovery toward a healthier spirit. and that’s because anxiety is an unexplored source of creativity and resilience that is usually only approached by the brave or saintly. Our hidden resources emerge under the pressure of hostile surroundings, when they might have remained hidden and dormant. Uncertainty has recovered its rightful place as an essential part of existence, without the comforts and structures we use to cushion our lives. We are not in control. Science is not an all-powerful god and, believe it or not, Google can’t answer all of our questions. As we do not know what will happen tomorrow, the wisdom is to follow the age-old counsel of living in the present. One day at a time, trusting in God, loosening our expectations and letting go of the absurd ideas about control. It’s better now to be a humble bamboo that bends with the wind than a colossal, and unyielding tree that could come crashing down.

[liacobain]

Who are the 6 players that the Aces should protect during the expansion draft? My picks:

Gray, Young, Wilson, AC, KP and Kate.

AC and KP have yet to sign a contract extension while Gray and Young did like a month ago. So either KP is waiting to the last minute, same with AC (or if AC is gonna retire after this season).

to me they should definitely protect that core four, kate, alysha (if she doesn’t retire 😓), and syd. the last three to me are just players you can’t let go and would be so important to your team. i rlly hope kp doesn’t leave i just can’t imagine this team without her. though she’s not doing the best right now she’s really such a big factor on the team.

[wafosterfullsail-blog]

Mastery Course Goals and Strategies

Mastery: Personal Development and Leadership

Goal 1: Complete Course with at least an 80% Study and complete every assignment I can Goal 2: Understand the meaning of Mastery Read Mastery by Robert Greene Goal 3: Set Up Mastery Goals Related To Course Complete Worksheet and Timeline to map out my plans and goals

The Art of Visual Storytelling Goal 1: Understand the meaning of visual storytelling Read The Visual Story: Creating the Visual Structure of Film, TV, and Digital Media by Bruce Block Goal 2: Learn how to use platforms that may aid in my filmmaking skills Complete YouTube Essential Training on lynda.com. https://www.lynda.com/YouTube-tutorials/YouTube-Essential-Training/118960-2.html, Vimeo Essential Training https://www.lynda.com/Vimeo-tutorials/Vimeo-Essential-Training/118962-2.html, and Learning Online Social Video https://www.lynda.com/Vimeo-tutorials/Up-Running-Online-Social-Video/117139-2.html Goal 3: Try Create a Graphic Novel, a new visual storytelling medium Read The DC Comics Guide to Creating Comics: Inside the Art of Visual Storytelling by Carl Potts

Script Analysis and Criticism Goal 1: Read Screenplays of some of my favorite movies to understand screenplay structure Research scripts at Simply Scripts http://www.simplyscripts.com and The Internet Movie Script Database (IMSDB) http://www.imsdb.com Goal 2: Begin to understand the filmmaking process Read Citizen Kane: A Filmmaker’s Journey by Harlan Lebo Goal 3: Gain an understanding of Script Analysis Read Script Analysis for Theatre: Tools for Interpretation, Collaboration and Production by Robert Knopf

Character Creation and Development

Goal 1: Understand the Process of Character Development Read The Psychology Workbook for Writers by Darian Smith and The Art of The Character: Creating Memorable Characters for Fiction, Film, and TV by David Corbett Goal 2: Create Two Unique Characters that are different from all of my past characters Use suggestions from 1,000 Character Writing Prompts: Villains, Heroes and Hams for Scripts, Stories and More by Bryan Cohen Goal 3: Write an extensive Character Bible for each main character in my Film Script Use reference books such as Creating Characters: A Writer’s Reference to the Personality Traits That Bring Fictional People to Life by Howard Lauther

Episodic and Serial Writing Goal 1: Understand the Real Process in Episodic Writing Read Crafty TV Writing: Thinking Inside The Box by Alex Epstein Goal 2: Write my first Spec script for an existing television show Read The One Hour Drama Series: Producing Episodic Television by Robert Del Ville Goal 3: Create a template for my own original series Use previous resources for creating characters. Read Writing the TV Drama Series: How To Succeed As a Professional Writer in TV

Film Screenwriting Goal 1: Develop a clear understanding of the structure of the most popular screenplays. Read Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting by Robert McKee and Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting by Syd Field Goal 2: Come up with three ideas of potential screenplays Look for inspiration from prompt books such as Sixty FUN Things to Write About by Jake Zelinger and Daily Writing!: A Year of Story Prompts Goal 3: Research opportunities for screenwriting conferences Conduct Google Search on “screenwriting conference”. Look for reputable organizations holding conferences within the next year. If possible, register.

Writing for Games Goal 1: Warm up to the idea of game writing Research popular games and takes notes on common themes Goal 2: Understand the process of game writing by reading books about game writing and playing a game to understand the structure Read Game Writing: Narrative Skills for Video Games by Chris Mark Bateman and Professional Techniques for Video Game Writing by Wendy Despain. Find a game that I may enjoy and play it to study structure Goal 3: Complete a original idea for my own game or graphic novel Read Video Game Storytelling: What Every Developer Needs to Know About Narrative Techniques by Evan Skolnick. Complete Lynda tutorials on Digital Painting and Learning Path: Become a Digital Illustrator https://www.lynda.com/learning-paths/Design/become-a-digital-illustrator

Storytelling and Storyboard for Animation Goal 1: Watch 3-5 animated movies, study the script Use my screenplay access at sites such as Simply Scripts. Watch film, read screenplay, and then watch and read to understand the structure of animated films Goal 2: Understand the history of animation Read Animation Writing and Development: From Screen Development to Pitch by Jean Wright. Goal 3: Write and produce my own short animated script Complete lynda.com tutorials Learning Paths Become a 3D  Character Animator and Become a 2D Character Animator https://www.lynda.com/learning-paths/3D-Animation/become-a-3d-character-animator and https://www.lynda.com/learning-paths/3D-Animation/become-a-2d-digital-animator

Advanced Script Editing Goal 1: Learn and Understand the Process of Script Editing Read The Art of Script Editing: A Practical Guide by Karol Griffiths Goal 2: Study examples of Film Editing by comparing scripts Read Shooting Scripts for The Kings Speech, Juno, and The Truman Show Goal 3:  Improve on Grammar Skills Read Grammar of the Edit by Roy Thompson and Grammar of the Film Language by Daniel Arijon

Creative Writing Portfolio I and II Goal 1: Come up with 3-5 ideas for pitches for final script Review pitch ideas from months before. Brainstorm a few more pitches and choose the best idea. Goal 2: Review Genres Read Genre Screenwriting: How to Write Popular Screenplays that Sell by Stephen Duncan and Alternative Screenwriting: Beyond the Hollywood Formula by Ken Dancyger and Jeff Rush Goal 3: Begin Writing Process for final thesis script Set aside time. Complete process by mapping out screenplay scene by scene. If possible, set up a trip to a writers retreat to focus on my work. Read Beat by Beat: A Cheat Sheet for Screenwriters by Todd Klick

The Business of Creative Writing Goal 1: Learn about the process of the Creative Writing entertainment business Read Dealmaking in the Film and Television Industry: From Negotiations to Final Contracts by Mark Litwak Goal 2: Develop networks within my genre Research and join at least one union and/or association Goal 3: See the business first hand Take a field trip to Los Angeles and visit relevant filmmaking locations to get an idea of how the business is run

[myflyingcars-blog]

HISTORY, COMPANIES AND COST OF FLYING CAR:

A flying Car is a kind of individual air vehicle that offers approach to-gateway transportation by both road and air. The expression “flying auto” is regularly used to consolidate roadable plane and hovercars.

Various models have been worked since the essential years of the twentieth century, yet no flying auto has yet accomplished era status.

Their appearance is routinely foreseen by futurologists, with their mistake ever to accomplish creation provoking to the catchphrase, “Where’s my flying auto?"

HISTORY:

In 1926, Henry Ford demonstrated a trial single-seat plane that he called the "sky flivver”. The wander was left two years afterward when a partition record try flight pummeled, executing the pilot. The Flivver was not a flying auto by any extend of the creative ability, but instead it got crush thought at the time, empowering the all inclusive community that they would have a mass-made sensible plane thing that would be made, displayed, sold, and kept up essentially like an auto. The plane was to be as regular later on as the Model T of the time. Source

In 1940, Henry Ford comprehensively foreseen: “Check my promise: a blend plane and motorcar is coming. You may smile, be that as it may it will come.”

In 1956, Ford’s Advanced Design studio created the Volante Tri-Athodyne, a 3/8 scale thought auto show. It was expected to have three ducted fans, each with their own specific motor, that would lift it off the ground and move it through the air. Without trying to hide association release, Ford saw that “the day where there will be an air auto in every garage is still some time off”, yet incorporated that “the Volante indicates one course that the styling of such a vehicle would take”.

In 1957, Popular Mechanics uncovered that Hiller Helicopters was working up a ducted-fan aircraft that would be more straightforward to fly than helicopters, and should cost essentially less. Hiller engineers expected that this sort of a flying machine would transform into the purpose behind a whole gathering of unprecedented reason aircraft.

In 1956, the US Army’s Transportation Research Command began an examination concerning “flying jeeps”, ducted-fan-based aircraft that were envisioned to be tinier and less requesting to fly than helicopters. In 1957, Chrysler, Curtiss-Wright, and Piasecki were alloted contracts for building and transport of models. They all passed on their models; regardless, Piasecki’s VZ-8 was the best of the three. While it would usually work close to the ground, it was fit for setting out to a couple of thousand feet, ended up being relentless in flight. Regardless, the Army picked that the “Flying Jeep thought [was] inadmissible for the present day cutting edge”, and concentrated on the change of conventional helicopters. Despite the outfitted drive contract, Piasecki was working up the Sky Car, an adjusted variation of its VZ-8 for non military faculty use.

Plan:

Planning

A sensible flying auto would should be set up to do safely taking off, flying and arriving all through vivaciously populated urban circumstances. Nevertheless, to date, no vertical flight and landing (VTOL) vehicle has ever indicated such capacities. To convey such a flying machine would require a drive system that is tranquil, to avoid bustle protests, and has non-revealed rotors so it could be flown safely in urban conditions. Likewise, for such flying machine to wind up unmistakably airborne, they would require fit engines. Many sorts of carrier progressions and casing factors have been proposed, for instance, ducted-fan and tiltrotor vehicle yet most past arrangements have encountered issues; ducted-fan flying machine tend to easily lose unfaltering quality and experience issues voyaging more unmistakable than 30–40 groups, while tiltrotors, for instance, the V-22 Osprey, are all things considered uproarious.Source http://aflyingcars.com/

Money related matters

On account of the need of drive that is both little and compelling, the cost of conveying a flying auto would be high and assessed by some as much as 10 million dollars. Likewise, the flying auto’s essentialness profitability would be much lower stood out from routine automobiles and other aircraft; perfect fuel capability for planes is at high speeds and high altitudes,while flying cars would be used for shorter partitions, at higher repeat, cut down rates and lower rise. For both natural and budgetary reasons, flying automobiles would be a huge usage of benefits.

Security

Yet genuinely business flying is a great deal more secure than driving, not at all like business planes, singular flying cars won’t not have a similar number of prosperity checks and their pilots would not be excessively arranged. Individuals starting at now have issues with the piece of driving in two estimations (forward and in switch, side to side), including the all over perspective would make “driving” or flying as it would be, significantly more troublesome; nevertheless, this issue might be clarified by method for the sole usage of self-flying and self-driving cars.In mid-air impacts and mechanical disillusionments, the carrier could tumble from the sky or experience an emergency landing, achieving passings and property hurt. Also, poor atmosphere conditions, for instance, low air thickness, lightning storms and overpowering precipitation, snow or fog could test and impact the plane’s ideal outline.

FICTIONS:

Star Wars (1977–present)

Flying cars show up in Star Wars where they are called airspeeders, for example, those that can be seen on the planet of Coruscant in every one of the three Star Wars prequel movies, from 1999’s Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace forward. They are in like way highlighted in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, where an early look for subsequent to social occasion consolidates flying autos. In 2005’s Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, Bail Organa rides a retro-display day vehicle that detached from its flying utmost looks like a 1950-style auto.

Cutting edge Runner (1982)

“Spinner” is the nonexclusive term for the long winded flying autos utilized as a bit of Blade Runner, set in forefront cyberpunk Los Angeles of 2019. A Spinner can be driven as a ground-based vehicle, and take off vertically, buoy, and excursion utilizing plane motivation much like Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) bearer. They are utilized widely by the police to watch and framework the masses, and unmistakably paying little mind to confinements rich individuals can get spinner licenses. The vehicle was imagined and framed by Syd Mead who delineated the spinner as an “aerodyne"— a vehicle which orchestrates air sliding to make lift, however squeeze units for the film conveyed that the spinner was moved by three motors: "standard internal begin, stream, and against gravity"Mead’s theoretical drawings were changed into 25 working vehicles by method for auto customizer Gene Winfield.A Spinner is on ceaseless show at the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle, Washington.

Back to the Future and Back to the Future Part II (1985/1989)

In Back to the Future Part II and the fulfillment of Back to the Future, Doc Brown welcomes Marty and his better half Jennifer in his adjusted flying DeLorean time machine, and time travels to the year 2015 where flying hovercars are a normal sight.

COST :

The unleaded flying vehicle can fly up to 100 mph with an extent of 500 miles, meanwhile on the ground it gets around 35 miles for each gallon and costs $279,000. The Transition will make it’s presentation at the New York Auto Show held April 6th fifteenth.

HOW FLYING CAR WILL WORK:

Sitting amidst a sea of automobiles in stuffed in movement on an endless interstate, have you ever gazed vacantly at nothing in particular about your auto taking off and flying over the road? Assume you could just flip a switch and unshackle yourself from the dark top!

Congested streets are the most exceedingly bad thing about any laborer. An expansive number of us spend a hour or so stuck in development reliably. The creating people is for the most part to blame for our congested roads, however the essential issue is that we are not developing our transportation systems adequately brisk to meet always growing solicitations. One course of action is to make another kind of transportation that doesn’t rely on upon avenues, which may one have the capacity to day make car over-burdens a twentieth century relic. To do this, we ought to look to the sky.

Organizations BUILDING FLYING CAR:

TERRAFUGIA:

Set up in 2006, Massacheusetts based Terrafugia has taken in $5.5 million in sponsoring to develop a couple sorts of flying cars. The principle flying auto they amassed called "The Transition®” is a settled wing street true blue aircraft that fits in a singular auto parking space and is proposed to be flown all through general flight air terminals (seen above). Yes, no doubt just a plane with crumpling wings however if it is street legal then we have to consider it a flying auto. Their second effort called the TF-X™ is a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft that would be more along the lines of how we may think a flying auto would work. We’d show to you a photograph of the model, however with an era date surveyed at 8 after 12 years on we figure the blueprint will change an extensive sum in the midst of the change organize.

AEROMOBIL:

Slovakian association AeroMobil may be the essential association that truly passes on the flying auto thought with an exquisite looking 2-seater that fits into any standard parking space, uses predictable gas, and can be used as a piece of road development just like some other auto. As a plane it can use any air terminal on the planet, yet can in like manner take off and arrive using any grass strip or cleared surface just several

MOLLER INTERNATIONAL:

Set up in 1983, Moller International (OTCMKTS:MLER), has been making flying automobiles for more than 40 years. Moller International has developed their Skycar® 200 which is a lightweight, 2-explorer VTOL aircraft now engaged for adjacent suburbanite markets. The range with 2 voyagers going at 122 mph (at 42 mpg) is 434 miles. The Skycar® 400 is the fifth period of VTOL carrier made by Dr. Paul Moller and is as of now in the “operational model” stage.

XPLORAIR:

One association developing a flying auto using an extraordinary procedure is Xplorair which was a wander proclaimed in 2007 that would develop a UAV display in ten years’ shot. Maintained by the French Armed Forces and reinforced by different European aeronautical firms, the Xplorair wander is using a select thermoreactor to convey the push required for VTOL. A radio-controlled full-scale model will be showed up at the Paris Air Show 2017 while the at first watched out for model should be open before 2020.

PAL V:

Dutch association PAL-V has developed a gyrocopter that changes into a 3-wheel road admirable vehicle. It takes 10 minutes to change over among drive and flight mode. The 230-hp gas engine can actuate this mechanical get together to 112 mph recognizable all around and zero to 60 in under 8 seconds on the ground. It’ll set you back about $300,000 and transports are depended upon to begin in 2016/2017.